Friday, July 29, 2011

WIND DEVELOPERS BE ADVISED

EXPLICIT CAUTIONARY NOTICE
TO THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR WIND TURBINE
SITING DECISIONS







Medical Director
Dr. Sarah Laurie, BMBS (Flinders)
Tel: 61 + 3 8640.0105E:
info@waubrafoundation.com.au
http://www.waubrafoundation.com.au/
The Waubra Foundation Inc.
PO Box 1136
South Melbourne
Victoria, 3205
Australia
Reg. No. A0054185H
ABN: 65 801 147 788
Board
Tony Hodgson, AM
Dr. Sarah Laurie, BMBS
Peter R. Mitchell AM, BChE (Chair)
Kathy Russell, BCom, CA
The Hon. Clive Tadgell, AO
The Hon. Dr. Michael Wooldridge,
B.Sc. MBMS, MBA



Including Specifically Directors of Wind Developers, Publicly Elected Officials from Federal, State and Local Government, and Bureaucrats in Relevant Departments



BE ADVISED that, as a result of information gathered from the Waubra Foundation’s own field research, and from the clinical and acoustic research available internationally, the following serious medical conditions have been identified in people living, working, or visiting within 10km of operating wind turbine developments. The onset of these conditions corresponds directly with the operation of wind turbines:
 chronic severe sleep deprivation;
 acute hypertensive crises;
 new onset hypertension;
 heart attacks (including Tako Tsubo episodes);
 worsening control of preexisting and previously stable medical problems such as angina, hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes, migraines, tinnitus, depression, and post traumatic stress disorder;
 severe depression, with suicidal ideation;
 development of irreversible memory dysfunction, tinnitus, and hyperacusis.
Other symptoms include those described by Medical Practitioners such as Dr Amanda Harry, and Dr Nina Pierpont in her landmark Case Series Crossover Peer Reviewed Study (submission No 13 to the Australian Federal Senate Inquiry into Rural Wind Farms) and published in Dr Pierpont’s book entitled “Wind Turbine Syndrome, A Report on a Natural Experiment”, 2009, published by K-Selected Books, Santa Fe.


These serious health problems were also identified by Australian GP Dr David Iser in 2004. Dr Iser formally notified the Victorian Government of the time after his patients became unwell following the start up of the Toora wind project. His warnings were ignored without being properly investigated by the authorities and politicians.
All this and supportive material has been made available to the Boards of the major developers, State Ministers for Health and Planning and senior health bureaucrats. The time for denial, and of using the Clean Energy Council to shoulder the increasingly difficult task of denying the link between adverse health and operating wind turbines, is over.
At the Toora and Waubra wind projects, some seriously ill affected residents have been bought out by the developers; but only after they signed confidentiality agreements specifically prohibiting them from speaking about their health problems. This buy-out activity would support a conclusion that developers are aware of the health problems.
Meanwhile, wind developments have continued, with developers asserting that their projects meet acceptable standards, and thereby implying that they cannot be causing health problems.
The Foundation is also concerned that Vibroacoustic Disease, as recorded and described by Professor Mariana Alves-Pereira’s team from Portugal, will develop in people chronically exposed to wind turbines. The disease has already been identified in the occupants of a house with levels of infrasound and low frequency noise identical to levels the Foundation is recording in the homes of affected residents in Australia.
The Foundation is aware of over 20 families in Australia who have abandoned their homes because of serious ill health experienced since the turbines commenced operating near their homes. Most recently, five households from Waterloo in South Australia have relocated, where the larger 3 MW turbines have had a devastating impact on the health of these residents. Some of these people have walked away from their only financial asset, to live in a shed or a caravan on someone else’s land.
The Foundation notes the mid-2010 advice from the National Health and Medical Research Council that a “precautionary approach” be followed. We are not aware that either industry or planning authorities have adopted this exceedingly valuable and important advice.
The Foundation’s position, as the most technically informed entity in Australia upon the effects of wind turbines on human health, is this: Until the recommended studies are completed, developers and planning authorities will be negligent if human health is damaged as a result of their proceeding with, or allowing to proceed, further construction and approvals of turbines within 10km of homes. It is our advice that proceeding otherwise will result in serious harm to human health.
We remind those in positions of responsibility for the engineering, investment and planning decisions about project and turbine siting that their primary responsibility is to ensure that developments cause no harm to adjacent residents; and, if there is possibility of any such harm, then the project should be re-engineered or cancelled. To ignore existing evidence by continuing the current practice of siting turbines close to homes is to run the dangerous risk of breaching a fundamental duty of care, thus attracting grave liability.


The Waubra Foundation, 29 June, 2011


Enquiries: Dr Sarah Laurie, Medical Director, 0439 865 914
Email address: sarah@waubrafoundation.com.au

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

ANTI-WIND GROUP DIVIDING CAPE COMMUNITY


 ANTI-WIND GROUP DIVIDING CAPE COMMUNITY

April 17, 2011

It's good to see the Cape Vincent community coming together to support our elementary school. I was hoping we could move beyond the destructive divisiveness the Cape's anti-wind group has dragged our community through.
But instead, they've stepped up their political games, trying to make people believe that the only thing that matters is banning renewable energy from our agricultural district. Just as we are rallying support for our community's school, local blogs are labeling our community members as Nazis and terrorists.
I guess the anti-wind group feels threatened by Voters for Wind. Though many in Voters for Wind are our volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians, opponents of renewable energy can't stop writing about how much these community members are nothing but terrorists and thugs.
While our community is going through a crisis of the possible school closing, the anti-wind preachers are doing all they can to distract people from the fact that wind revenue will benefit our school district. While we have a crisis of not enough young families living in the Cape year-round, local blogs are screaming that all focus must be on Cape's summer resort interests, and all potential year-round business development must be chased out of town.
And while we are trying to unite our community, the blogs are trying to drive a wedge between year-round residents and seasonal residents, when I know that many seasonal residents
When I know that many seasonal residents know wind revenue could reduce taxes and improve Cape's waterfront, and they support wind development for those reasons.
Anti-wind group members target community members and make you feel like they're your best friend, when they are only using you for your vote. Will they stay your best friend after the next election?
Wind opponents say they're not manipulative, but I've seen how they talk online and everything is all capital letters, all exclamation points, and everything is blown way out of proportion. First they say something is a certain number. A few months later, that number is doubled. A few months later, the number is tripled. No evidence is ever given to support their escalating numbers. When one fictitious number isn't scary enough anymore, they just come up with higher, scarier fictitious numbers.
These are tactics of people who do not have facts on their side. The anti-wind group is just scaring our community members. And it's a shame they are doing this during these difficult times.


Harvey White
Cape Vincent


~~~~
 

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

A Scary distraction

 It’s good to see the Cape Vincent community coming together to support our elementary school I was hoping we could move beyond the destructive divisiveness Cape’s anti- wind group has dragged our community through. But just as we are rallying support for our community’s school, the anti- wind group goes online and labels our community members as Nazis and terrorists.
Anti- wind blogs are no different than tabloids. Bloggers believe Cape is so full of gullible people that if they repeat ridiculous fictions over and over, they will eventually become true in the minds of people. First, they say something is a certain number, a few months later that number is double, a few months later the number is tripled. When one fictitious number isn’t scary enough, they come up with a higher scarier fictitious numbers. Just recently, a blogger said the wind turbines proposed for Cape will be twice the size of the test tower near Route 12E. But it’s well known the test tower covers the full height of a turbines tower. Besides, why would a tower’s height anemometer be only at the half way mark of a turbines height? These are scare tactics of people who don’t have facts on their side.
Nothing could be more divisive than their recent mass mailer. They list names of community members, as if they’re enemies belonging on a hit list. The Mailer is full of the characteristics of Capes anti- wind group is known for: blowing things out of proportion, blatant inaccuracies and deliberately misleading graphics. The group doesn’t even get their own name right on their mailer. They call themselves an energy group instead of an Ethics group. Did they lose their ethics? And the president of this group wants to run for our town board?
While bloggers hide behind their fake names, they repeatedly smear the real names of our community members because of imagined crimes. Cape’s anti- wind group has sued our community members twice and lost twice. Both times the State Supreme Court confirmed the crimes were imagined by the anti- wind group. But does that stop bloggers from repeatedly smearing our innocent community members and calling them criminals? No. Bloggers care more about being popular than providing facts or helping a community. One Blogger boasts every day how many people he’s lured to his tabloid- like blog. And one online anti- wind calls himself Pater, which means Holy Father. While our community is going through a crisis of the possible school closing, the anti-wind bloggers are doing all they can to distract people from the fact that wind revenue will benefit our school district.
Cape’s anti- wind group is just scaring our community members. And it’s a shame they are doing this during difficult times.

Harvey White
Cape Vincent

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Urban Hirschey Man With a Mission


I pledge to make Cape Vincent a great place to live, work and vacation.

Re-elect
URBAN HIRSCHEYfor
TOWN SUPERVISOR
Experienced.

~
Responsible.

~
Responsive.

    Qualifications
  • Present SupervisorTown of Cape Vincent
  • 6TH generation native of the North Country
  • Member
    Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency
  • Board member, past, and presidentJefferson County Job Development Agency
  • Vice PresidentCarthage Industrial Development Corporation
  • Retired PresidentClimax Manufacturing Company
  • Past Board memberCarthage Central School Board
  • Retired Captain, US Army Reserve479 Engineer Battalion, Watertown


As a proven leader with 45 years of management experience, I am well -qualified to guide the town through the complex issues that surround alternative energy sources.

    As your Town Supervisor, I have:

    • Provided complete transparency and documentation on all decision – making processes .


    • Worked to achieve consensus on issues through independent committees, professional advisors


    • Recruited active participation in town government.


    • Used an un- biased organization to conduct an updated survey of all residents (year-round and seasonal) to understand their opinions.

    • As your Town supervisor I will




  • Establish an open committee to review & draft good zoning laws.


  • In partnership with the Village of Cape Vincent, I will diligently work to:

    • Insure safe accessible housing for our senior citizens.

    • Increase job opportunities.

    • Continue restoring our historical treasures.

    • Develop the full potential of our recreational waterfront and agricultural resources.

    • When campaigning for the position of Supervisor in the fall of 2009 I developed some campaign promises. On the front of my campaign handout, the first one listed states, “If elected, I will provide complete transparency and documentation on the decision making process.”
        To that end, I have:

        • Increased the amount and timeliness of information posted on the Towns website
        • Moved monthly Town Board meetings to the Recreation Center to accommodate more people
        • Included Privilege of the floor sessions
        • Held special open meetings

        Very soon after taking office I looked into the Escrow accounts which up to then were not available to the public. Over the course of the next few months, I took steps to make accounts more transparent and to have more than one signature approving the invoices. Nonetheless, the brevity of the documentation astounded me. There was neither a correspondence folder nor one piece of written correspondence pertaining to the expenditure of over 100000. Billed by lawyers and engineering Company on the SEQRA process! Upon making inquiries to Whiteman Osterman and Hanna, I was told that there was not much written communication and that it was mostly just talk. Nonetheless, they would send me what they had. To this date even after several reminders, I have not received any copies of emails or written correspondence.

        The Towns engineering firm Bernier and Carr and Associates has been more cooperative. After confirmation that there is no privileged information that had been requested by the Attorney General’s office. After reviewing some of the files, I gave them to the Town Clerk to release under the freedom of public information act so that the public would have a better idea how money from the escrow account was spent. During the remainder of my term(s) as your Supervisor I pledge to continue an open government policy.

        Urban Hirschey

        Cape Vincent Supervisor

    HIRSCHEY MANIPULATED BY ANTI-WIND GROUP

     

    At a recent town meeting, Cape Vincent residents asked town official Urban Hirschey to resign because he knowingly gave out confidential town documents, even after being told by the Planning Board's lawyer that giving out the confidential documents would be against town law.

    Since Urban is a puppet of Cape's anti-wind group, the anti-wind ringleaders accused the residents of being blindly pro-wind. But it's not an anti-wind or pro-wind issue. Urban did something he knew was wrong. The anti-wind ringleaders assured Urban he did nothing wrong, so Urban responded to the charges by saying he expected to be exonerated. The next day, New York State's Committee on Open Government publicly confirmed that Urban's actions were wrong.

    A wind company wrote a letter to the town saying they're concerned about Urban's unlawful actions. Anti-wind ringleaders want you to think the wind company is concerned about the public reading the documents. But the wind company has made it clear what the documents say isn't the issue. In fact, the wind company shows zero concern with people reading the files. It's Urban's unlawful actions that concerns them.

    There are individuals on the town board who do not share the anti-wind views of the anti-wind ringleaders, and just because of this, the anti-wind have made it their mission to drag these individuals through hell until they resign. For five years, these individuals have been harassed, bullied and accused of corruption. The anti-wind ringleaders tried suing them for corruption, but no corruption was found, so their lawsuit failed. They demanded the attorney general investigate the individuals for corruption. The investigation was conducted, and no corruption has been found.

    Yet within 11 months of the anti-wind's puppet being on the town board, he was caught engaged in conduct that a state official without hesitation recognized as wrong. And the anti-wind ringleaders are crying foul and screaming "no fair." The anti-wind ringleaders aren't good at recognizing what's truly fair and unfair.

    If Urban refuses to resign, will he recuse himself from future votes? It all depends on what his anti-wind puppet masters tell him. Urban probably regrets trusting the anti-wind ringleaders and being manipulated by them.
    The Cape community could be discussing how revenue and jobs from wind development would prevent the potential closing of the Cape elementary school, but we can't, because we're too busy dealing with the nonstop drama the anti-wind ringleaders are dragging this community through.

    Harvey White
    Cape Vincent


     

    Friday, July 15, 2011

    Anti-wind minority using insidious methods



    A recent survey showed that 84 percent of county residents support wind energy. This pro-wind majority needs to keep an eye out for the anti-wind sneaking around in county committees trying to push through their anti-wind agendas.
    Take, for example, Urban Hirschey, who for some reason was recently appointed chair of the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency. Urban also appointed himself chair of Cape Vincent's anti-wind group. Adding more of a conflict of interest, he's also the town supervisor. But most Cape residents know Urban received more votes than his incumbent only because anti-wind groups registered nonresident family members to their Cape addresses.
    As chair of the JCIDA, it seems Urban is being coached by the anti-wind groups to push through an anti-wind agenda, undermining the IDA's real purpose. JCIDA member Kent Burto could see through all this. Burto's quote in the newspaper: "What I see is a town that doesn't have control because of the mix of the board and because of that, there are fears and because of those fears, they are looking to the IDA board to resolve them."
    Why are certain people in the anti-wind minority so committed to undermining the county's pro-wind majority? Because they don't like things that are new and different. They don't like all taxpaying county residents benefiting equally from wind development. They only like things that exclusively fatten their already fat wallets.
    The anti-wind love to call the pro-wind majority ignorant, but notice the ads the anti-wind groups put out. The anti-wind never suggest you go to the library and talk to a librarian about how to find unbiased research. Instead the anti-wind say the only research you should do is visiting certain websites, and these websites are just anti-wind bloggers with zero credentials in any of the things they are talking about. So who are the ignorant ones here?
    On the blogs, all the anti-wind talk about is who they hate for being a renewable energy supporter, and how they can get others to hate these people too. The renewable energy supporters are decent hard-working people, but the anti-wind just talk about how they can ruin their lives.
    Right now, the main goal of the anti-wind is wearing down the decent, hard-working community-minded pro-renewable energy people to the point of giving in. But they won't succeed.

    Harvey White
    Cape Vincent



     

    Thursday, July 14, 2011

    A CONFLICT OF INTEREST WITH ANTI-WIND GROUP

     
    Clif Schneider wrote an angry response to my letter, claiming I supposedly "denigrated" seasonal Cape Vincent residents, when in fact, I was pointing out how it seems anti-wind groups are always trying to sucker seasonal folks out of their money. People are noticing the money is being wasted on anti-wind schemes that either backfire or make things worse.
    The anti-wind groups suckered seasonal folks for campaign funds to elect Urban Hirschey, because Urban would have a wind law in place within three months. So Urban wins by 20 votes, and at his first wind law meeting, Urban admits that since he's a member of an anti-wind group that accepts donations to stop wind development, he has just as much a conflict of interest as the town board members with wind leases. If he's allowed to vote, then they are allowed to vote. There's still no wind law.
    Now that seasonal people are back and seeing things are no different than before the election, the anti-wind group members on the town board are trying to deliver the proof of corruption they promised to deliver. Yet their audit came up with nothing.
    Clif suggested I talk to my neighbors about sound levels, but he should know my neighbors are either wind leaseholders or pro-wind family members. Maybe Clif should publicly admit he's a member of the anti-wind group that tried to sue the town and failed, costing the taxpayers thousands to fend off the lawsuit.
    Then there's Clif's survey asking Tibbetts Point residents how they feel about wind turbines on Wolfe Island. He must've only surveyed people he knew would give him the result he wanted, because I know people on Tibbetts who didn't get his survey.
    I think the real reason for Clif's angry response was because I called him out as a self-appointed expert in real estate, acoustics, whatever, without any credentials or background in these areas. To show that he's a sound expert, Clif gave a sound demonstration recently by playing the sound of turbines on a tape recorder in a room with 8-foot ceilings. Just like being outdoors.
    Finally, Cliff showed complete lack of class by having his letter attacking me appear during a difficult time with my family. He could've called and asked that his letter not appear while I was going through this difficult time. He has real class.

    Harvey White
    Cape Vincent

     

    Cape wind opponents silence other opinions

     THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2010
    Why don't the anti-wind people want you to hear from all sides and draw your own conclusions? Whenever a Cape Vincent resident asks for more unity and dialogue, the anti-wind tells that resident to shut up. When wind companies say they're opening an informational office, the anti-wind says these offices aren't welcome. If you're a respected community member and you're outspoken pro-wind, the anti-wind will make your life a living hell.

    In the anti-wind world, actual experts are not to be trusted, but a Department of Environmental Conservation retiree is an expert in real estate, acoustics, whatever, and he's the only person you should see to learn about wind power.

    Online anti-wind like Windy, Outlaw, Jefferson-Leaning-Left, etc., devote every day of their lives glued to their computers, stirring up anger through lies and telling you if you live in certain areas of the Cape, you're to view wind power only one way, and you're to vote only one way. That's all seasonal people are to the anti-wind: to squeeze for money and a means of electing incompetent puppets into office.
    There's also money in being online anti-wind. On the anti-wind coalition's website, they're selling anti-wind merchandise. Plus, there's a huge "donate" box. Easy cash, if no one's paying attention to where donations are going.

    These online anti-wind rant about hating foreign energy companies and wind power. Do they realize computer use is a big drain on Northern New York's energy grid? Unless Windy, Outlaw, Jefferson-Leaning-Left, etc., are using their computers 100 percent off the grid, they're actually increasing profits for a foreign energy company (National Grid) and fueling demand for wind power.

    Harvey White
    Cape Vincent

     

    Wednesday, July 13, 2011

    Fort Drum ~ Investigates installing~

    BAT KILLER

    JEFFERSON COUNTY ~ THE INDIANA BROWN BAT

    DEADLY WHITE~NOSE

    Nationwide, white-nose syndrome has wiped out an estimated 1 million bats since it was initially seen in a New York cave in 2006. Since then, it has been identified in 14 states and two Canadian provinces and is moving westward.





    Bats play a crucial role in controlling crop and forest pests, the loss of so many bats will affect our agricultural economy and forest economy.
    Their appetite for bugs has major implications for agriculture not only in New York State but nationwide.
    “Bats are the primary predators of nighttime insects,” including moths and beetles that damage corn and other commodity crops. With fewer bats, we have more insects, which mean it is necessary to use more pesticides.
    The Indiana bat – classified by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as endangered. Are legally protected they are not immune from white nose syndrome this disease could have a devastating effect upon the survival of this species. White nose syndrome is a fungus it attacks cave-dwelling bats while they hibernate. The fungus grows on the animals’ ears, wings and nose. It is believed that the fungus wakes them or keeps them awake. As a result, infected bats use more of their stored body fat and starve to death. Additionally to further devastate the bat population the growing popularity of wind turbines and wind farms poses problems for bats, especially when they are migrating.
    Tree-roosting species, like the Indiana bat, are also in jeopardy when the large dead trees they roost in are removed and their habitat is disturbed in other ways, such as clearing for transmission line routes to accommodate wind turbines.
    Serious threats to bats come from wind turbines and habitat destruction. When a species is eradicated from the planet, it is an irreversible problem.
    Just yesterday, there was a story in the Watertown Times about Fort Drum and how the Army was conducting an environmental assessment to determine if they will install two “small” wind turbines on base. They mentioned that they were not concerned that Fort Drum is home to the endangered Indiana bat because their closest known colony is over 2700 meters away (1.6 miles). However, the Indiana brown bat typically moves between 12 and 40 miles to roost locations. Additionally bats do not stay in the roost location ,they are on the move constantly at night when foraging for food.

    The story reported that workers on post will monitor the area daily for bird and bat injuries or kills, but according to Cait Schadock, a National Environment Policy Act coordinator, on post, the location is the least inhabited on post. "It already has no trees on it, so roosting bats and birds are no issue," she said.
    It is ridiculous to assume that the bats will not be flying in the areas on post selected for wind turbines.
    Coincidentally today there is another story from Fort Drum this story is about biologists from Fort Drum and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife service’s collecting and tagging brown bats to get estimates of bat populations and the effect of white nose - syndrome it is estimated that this disease has
    killed more than 1 million cave-hibernating bats in the state since it was first discovered near Albany in 2006. In Jefferson County, the bat population has declined more than 50 percent during the past couple of years.
    Robyn A. Niver, endangered species biologist for the U.S., said, the information gathered, will also be used to help the U.S. make a final decision on whether the eastern small-footed and northern long-eared bats warrant additional protection under the Endangered Species Act. If the species receive federal protection, they will also gain protection from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
    "We're here to help Fort Drum with a research project looking at little brown bats and the effects of white-nose syndrome on them," she said. We're living a huge environmental experiment right now. We've never witnessed widespread losses of animals like this ever in our lifetimes."


    Watertown Daily Times Army eyes wind power at Fort Drum

    Watertown Daily Times STUDY DOCUMENTS BAT DIE-OFF

    Tuesday, July 12, 2011

    Hold Hirschey to his campaign promises


    THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2010
    I appreciate Tom Rienbeck for his 10 years of dedicated service as Cape Vincent town supervisor.
    But as most Cape residents now know, Tom would still be supervisor if it weren't for the Cape's unethical anti-wind group going through loopholes in New York election law.
    I don't' see how the anti-wind group can see the election as a victory. Since the 2007 election, they spent who knows how much money on full-page newspaper ads and anti-wind events with expensive guest speakers. Then they bend the rules with who knows how many voters. The board of elections says 200-plus voters were registered in Cape since 2007. And Urban only gets 20 more votes than Tom.
    I wonder how Mr. Hirschey feels knowing that his anti-wind group had to be so unethical to get him elected for only 20 more votes than Tom? How does he expect to get anything done when the Cape residents he'll be dealing with year-round know what his group did?
    The Cape anti-wind group won't admit this but they were actually defeated in the election. The clean sweep they wanted and expected never happened. In fact, the candidate most known for being anti-wind, John Byrne, came in dead last. He didn't even get 25 percent of the votes from all Cape's registered voters.
    And there's the fact that, after the election, I heard some voters saying they didn't know Urban was in an anti-wind group. But they remembered when he said "wind turbines are majestic" in a 2006 public hearing.
    After the election, I read in the newspaper that Mr. Byrne's response to losing the election was filing another lawsuit against the town that will only waste more of our taxpayer money. And there's no point for Mr. Byrne's lawsuit since it's only copying the attorney general's code of conduct.
    Cape residents should make sure Urban doesn't dodge his campaign promises. Town board meetings should be in a place with lots of seats, so we can all watch him acting as supervisor. Urban should also try to match Tom's office hours. Cape residents should expect Urban in town offices no less than 20 hours every single week.

    Harvey White
    Cape Vincent

    ~~~~
    Common Sense Is Not So Common

    Sunday, July 10, 2011

    ANTI-WIND FOLKS MAKING FALSE ACCUSATIONS

     

    FEBRUARY 24, 2009

    The Cape Vincent community must feel lucky to have anti-wind people telling us how we're so unethical. Once again, some anti-wind people are criticizing our board members.
    Most anti-wind folks are just bitter about not owning enough property for a turbine of their own. So just because they won't directly benefit from a turbine on their property, they'll do everything they can to make sure Cape Vincent residents don't benefit in any way from the wind farm.
    Anti-wind folks will probably try to block hundreds of thousands dollars of annual wind farm revenue that could go to the town, county and school district through the PILOT agreement. I know they're trying to play down the amount of money in the PILOT.
    And so they make personal attacks and false accusations about our board members. All while assuming that if one Cape resident has the same last name as another resident, they must be related. Maybe if these anti-wind people lived in our community for more than two months a year, they'd have a better idea of who is related to whom.
    In their disrespect and ignorance, they can't even spell the names of our community members correctly.
    Where in the United States are these anti-wind people going to find a small town where board members aren't related in some way to their constituents? Many Cape Vincent families have chosen to live here for many generations because they're surrounded by people they know and trust.
    And when these anti-wind groups try to sue the town, thousands of dollars of Cape Vincent taxpayer money has to be allocated for legal fees. And then a New York Supreme Court judge will end up invalidating the anti-wind group's claims. So it all ends up being a huge waste of Cape Vincent taxpayer money.
    Not only are our board members being antagonized by anti-wind people, but I also know for a fact that anti-wind people have told some local businesses that, since the business owner is a vocal supporter of wind farms, they won't patronize their business. I could name some local business owners who are at risk of going out of business because their wealthiest customers, some anti-wind people, are boycotting them because they had a pro-wind sign in their yard.
    Wind turbines are now up on Wolfe Island. Most Cape residents have already gotten used to them, some hardly notice them.

    Harvey White
    Cape Vincent

    Thursday, July 7, 2011

    CAPE ANTI-WIND BACKERS CAUSE DISRUPTIONS



    September 11, 2009
    The unethical anti-wind group in Cape Vincent obviously planned the disruptive performance the town board had to endure at their Aug. 13 meeting.
    They knew Supervisor Thomas Rienbeck was going to ask for the camera to be removed.
    They knew this because all summer long they have been causing meeting disruptions with their video camera by antagonizing and mocking town board members until they exhibit frustration, and then posting only their frustration on YouTube. Cape town boards have always allowed video cameras at meetings, but all summer long videos intended only to humiliate town board members have been popping up online.
    At the Aug. 13 meeting, the anti-wind person responsible for posting videos sat front and center and made sure his camera was visible to the town board. Then, he zooms in on Supervisor Rienbeck's face as the anti-wind person next to him calls Rienbeck a "rotten human being" and tries to provoke him.
    Only problem is Tom, much to the surprise of the unethical anti-wind people, kept his cool the whole time.
    For the record, Tom never said the word "arrest." Not a single member of the town board said the word "arrest." It was the disruptive anti-wind people putting themselves in front of the camera screaming about being arrested.
    Tom wanted police presence only because he wanted the anti-wind people to know that if the camera is only intended to show humiliating videos of the town board members, then it is a disruption to the board's proceedings, and therefore not allowed in the building.
    To the disrespectful anti-wind person who referred to our supervisor as a "rotten human being," has he given more than 35 years of his life as a volunteer firefighter for Cape Vincent? Has he served as a Cape Vincent official for 18 years? For the last five elections, the community of Cape Vincent has elected Tom Rienbeck to serve them. That includes eight years at village trustee and almost 10 years as town supervisor.
    I have known Tom Rienbeck for over 40 years, and the Cape Vincent community has known the Rienbeck family for several generations. He has earned this community's respect, and he deserves respect. He and this community have had to endure such disrespectful and disgusting treatment from the anti-wind folks.
    If the anti-wind group's goal was to unite this community in support of our town supervisor and town board members, then they've succeeded.

    Harvey White
    Cape Vincent

    Wednesday, July 6, 2011

    CANDIDATE'S VOTE CORRECTED

     Harvey White wrote in a Oct 31, 2007 letter to the Times that it was Clif Schneider his opponent in the race for Cape Vincent Town Board, not  Tom Rienbeck. The Times printed a retraction/correction and the minutes tell a different story, so who is right?

    Mr.White wrote the following
    “Actually, Supervisor Thomas Rienbeck and other council men voted to implement zoning, but Councilman Cliff Schneider voted no, and stopped the zoning from going into effect.”[sic]

      The vote that Mr. White was referring to actually went like this Supervisor Reinbeck resolved to, “Discontinue the process of amending the Town of Cape Vincent Zoning Law to regulate wind towers.”
    Mr. Schneider sent the Town Board Minutes to the Watertown Times and they wrote a retraction/correction.

    As reported in the Watertown Times

    CANDIDATE'S VOTE CORRECTED
    A letter Wednesday from Harvey White, Cape Vincent, misrepresented town Councilman Clifford Schneider's vote on a zoning law for wind towers. According to minutes of the Aug. 28, 2006, board meeting, Mr. Schneider voted against a motion "to discontinue amending the town of Cape Vincent zoning law to regulate wind.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~

    To look at the minutes that reflect the vote click here

    A HYPOCRITICAL OPPOSITION TO OVERSEAS OWNERS



    A HYPOCRITICAL OPPOSITION TO OVERSEAS OWNERS

    October 31, 2007,
    It’s totally hypocritical and inaccurate for people to complain that wind farms generate money that goes to foreign countries. You shop at Wal-Mart, you’re sending American dollars to China. You fuel up your car, you’re sending American dollars to a Middle Eastern country. China is one of the world’s biggest polluters, and most 9-11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, from which the U.S. imports oil. Yet people are furious some wind farm companies have headquarters in Europe?

    Do your research. While AES and Acciona are international engery companies, AES is heaquartered in Arlington, Va., and Acciona Energy NA is headquartered in Chicago. Plus, turbine parts are produced in the U.S. and the green energy boom is giving hope and revitalized industry to many Upstate New York cities and rural areas that have been struggling for decades.

    It’s easy to see through the misinformation the Wind Power Ethics Group is trying to sell. For example, the “20-year life span of turbines” myth. If a company yields revenue from a certain resource, they’ll stay where that resource is inexhaustible. Cape has had an inexhaustible wind resource for centuries, yet WPEG wants you to believe a wind company will just up and leave within 20 years?

    It’s true that generators on some turbines have the potential to decrease efficiency, but swapping out generators, even swapping whole turbine structures, wold not be a big deal for wind companies. This would work to our advantage. Turbines are ever evolving into quieter, more environmentally harmonious structures. If a turbine put in next year needs to be replaced 20 years from now, it would be replaced with a quieter, more environmentally harmonious turbine.

    Gerald Aubertine recently wrote a letter blaming our incumbents for no zoning for wind farms. Actually, Supervisor Thomas Rienbeck and other councilment voted to implement zoning, but Councilman Cliff Schneider voted no, and stopped the zoning from going into effect.

    People complain about our officials not being able to vote because they have family with property in Cape Vincent wind projects. We all know Supervisor Rienbeck has no family in the AES, Acciona or BP project, but what about John DeFrancesco? DeFranseco’s brother-in-law is signed up in the BP project. He won’t be able to vote on the BP project for the zoning for either project.

    Also, I recommend all voters in Cape ask DeFransesco about his underhanded conduct at the 2005 Republican caucus, and why village sidewalks were removed from his property.

    Harvey White
    Cape Vincent
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Published on November 1, 2007, Page A9, Watertown Daily Times

    CANDIDATE'S VOTE CORRECTED
    A letter Wednesday from Harvey White, Cape Vincent, misrepresented town Councilman Clifford Schneider's vote on a zoning law for wind towers. According to minutes of the Aug. 28, 2006, board meeting, Mr. Schneider voted against a motion "to discontinue amending the town of Cape Vincent zoning law to regulate wind. Link here to read previous post




    Tuesday, July 5, 2011

    COMMENT ABOUT 'PIPER PICKING TUNE' SHOWS ANTI-WIND BIAS


    July 5, 2009

    In the June 23 Times article "New study disputes Cape noise levels," John Byrne says, "He who pays the piper picks the tune," to criticize a sound study completed by accredited sound consultants hired by a wind company. That's his exact quote: "He who pays the piper picks the tune."

    John Byrne must realize this quote applies to him and the anti-wind group of which he's a member. By using this quote, he's admitting his anti-wind group paid for a biased sound study.

    The anti-wind group may try to say one sound consultant's accreditation is better or different than another consultant's accreditation. But none of that matters. Based on John Byrne's quote, it stands to reason, if you don't like the "tunes" a "piper" is playing, you don't hire him. You'd only hire a "piper " to play the "tunes" that are more in line with your musical tastes. Therefore, John Byrne is admitting his anti-wind group paid for a sound study that was more in line with their point of view than a previous report.

    There's only one reason an anti-wind group would pay so much money for an admittedly anti-wind sound study. When an anti-wind group can't find a consensus of experts to support their point of view, they'll pay someone to have a different point of view.

    Harvey White
    Cape Vincent

    Link here to read the article that Harvey White is referring to

     

    Monday, July 4, 2011

    CAPE HAS RESPONSIBLE LEADER WITH REINBECK

    Nov.24, 2008

    I'm responding to Cicero resident, Noel Bonvouloir, writing in our local newspaper to complain about decisions made by Cape Vincent's zoning committee. The Cicero resident complains about the "way things are handled" in Cape Vincent.
    The writer complains that Cape Vincent Town Supervisor Tom Rienbeck organized the zoning committee and appointed its members all by himself. Maybe he didn't hear, but Mr. Rienbeck has been elected by the Cape Vincent community in a series of landslide victories since 2000. The Cape Vincent community has elected Mr. Rienbeck to be a leader, and by organizing and appointing members to the committee, he is responsibly acting as a leader. Were the committee members supposed to appoint themselves?
    And Mr. Rienbeck wasn't asked to organize this committee. No one forced him to organize the committee. He could have made a unilateral move to establish the zoning laws however he wanted. But instead, Mr. Rienbeck wanted to be fair to all members of the Cape Vincent community, so he organized this committee. The majority of the Cape community feels Mr. Rienbeck made admirable efforts to include wide-ranging members of this community for the committee.
    The Cicero resident acknowledges that the zoning committee members agreed to compromise. He appears furious that the members have been conciliatory with each other. He appears furious certain members are not stonewalling or bringing the discussion to a halt.
    As most of the Cape knows, if the local anti-wind group didn't threaten to sue the town board, we would've already had a wind law.
    I'm glad the Cicero resident praises Section 115 of Cape Vincent's current zoning law since having a wind farm in the Cape directly addresses Section 115's aim to conserve the Cape's agricultural resources. Farms in the Cape have been diminishing for the last few decades, and with turbine leases on agricultural land, there will be substantial conservation of farms and agricultural land.
    Maybe the Cicero resident doesn't realize that a large majority of the Cape Vincent community is very proud of our town supervisor. Many of us feel Mr. Rienbeck, along with all of our current town board members and Planning Board members, deserve to be treated with respect, whether you're a year-round resident or a seasonal resident.
    The Cicero resident praises "our forefathers" for what they intended when they originally zoned Cape Vincent. Which forefathers is he praising? The forefathers of Cape Vincent or the forefathers of Cicero?

    Harvey White

    Cape Vincent

    Sunday, July 3, 2011

    ATTACKS DON'T KEEP OFFICIALS FROM DOING JOBS


    May 10, 2009
    There's no real need for me to show how the anti-wind group's assessment of our local officials is totally wrong. I know most Cape residents either ignore the anti-wind group's letters or read them to see how low the group will stoop.

    Sometimes you have to laugh at how ignorant the self-righteous anti-wind group is.

    In a recent letter, the group claims that the town board votes on the Environmental Impact Statement, when most people know the town board doesn't even vote on the EIS. And yet they claim the town supervisor doesn't know what he's doing.

    And enough with the conflicts-of-interest accusations. First, it's not illegal for a board member to be related to someone with a wind lease.
    Second, any board member
    with such a relation consistently and ethically recused themselves from votingThird, the voters of Cape Vincent have clearly shown they don't care about conflicts of interest by repeatedly electing the candidates with supposed "conflicts of interest
    The anti-wind group is just getting bitter because they haven't made the wind projects go away. They've tried lawsuits. They've tried campaigning to get anti-wind people into elected positions. They've tried malicious attack ads.

    They've even tried sneaking video cameras into board meetings, putting the videos online and disrespectfully making fun of the board members. To their disappointment, all the money they've spent has not stopped our local officials from performing their duties efficiently, wisely and responsibly.

    Don't let these anti-wind rants tarnish your view of Cape Vincent. When you visit Cape Vincent this summer, as long as you avoid the handful of anti-wind folks, you'll see that most Cape Vincent residents are friendly, respectful and rational people.

    Harvey White
    Cape Vincent

    Cape anti-wind group avoids public dialogue



    JULY 13, 2008

    In a June 28 article about an anti-wind turbine speaker addressing Cape Vincent's anti-wind group and "the public," why was there no public announcement of this meeting? I've talked to several residents in the Cape Vincent area, town and village representatives, and no one knew about this meeting.
    Apparently, this was an exclusive meeting, with the anti-wind group inviting only the press and probably a select group of policymakers who they felt would help their cause.
    Why was the wider public not invited to this exclusive meeting? I can think of some reasons:
    First, despite all of the money and rumor-spreading the anti-wind group has devoted to their misinformation campaign, the wider public of Cape Vincent has not proven to be as gullible as the anti-wind group first assumed.
    After more than three years of the anti-wind group's moneyed efforts to increase their numbers beyond the couple dozen core members, they have not persuaded the wider public to swallow their misinformation.
    The anti-wind group probably didn't invite the wider public to their meeting because they didn't want their expensive anti-wind speaker and the press to see how small the anti-wind minority in Cape Vincent really is.
    If select policymakers were invited, I hope they realize that no dissenting voices were allowed at this meeting. The majority of Cape Vincent has remained pro-wind because, with all the anti-wind group's propaganda and hired speakers, it's been easy to recognize the inaccuracy and shortsightedness in their rumors and research.
    Secondly, I've noticed when discussing wind energy, the anti-wind group's preferred mode of communication is not two-way conversation. The anti-wind group avoids face-to-face dialogue altogether. They do not want their opinions challenged. They especially do not want the accuracy of their research challenged.
    The anti-wind group does not want to be asked whether they've thoroughly weighed all the pros and cons in allowing wind turbines in Cape Vincent. Whenever you disprove the anti-wind group's arguments with indisputable facts, or ask them for the source of their supposed facts, they will change the subject.
    The anti-wind group wants to be able to present one supposed "expert" that denounces wind energy, but they do not want to be questioned about the financial compensation they've provided the supposed expert. They especially don't want to be asked to present a consensus of experts that all unanimously denounce wind energy.

    Harvey White
    Cape Vincent